Fire destroys another African-American church in South Carolina

The Mt. Zion AME Church in Williamsburg County, South Carolina has burned down. Federal investigators suspect the blaze was started by a lightning strike, rather than arson, according to local reports.

About 50 firefighters, local police, the FBI, and five agents
from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
(ATF) are assisting the local sheriff’s office and state police
in investigating the fire.

Federal investigators said they had found no accelerants at the
scene to indicate arson. A heavy thunderstorm passed through the
area on Tuesday night, resulting in multiple lightning strikes in
the vicinity of the church.

Local TV station WCSC reported that officials received a call
about the fire around 9 pm on Tuesday. The church, located on
Mackey Road in Greeleyville, was severely damaged in the blaze,
according to the Clarendon County Fire Department.

"The building collapsed," firefighter Jason Hardy of
Clarendon County told the Huffington Post. "Only the outer
shell is left. Just brick standing."

This is the second time Mt. Zion has caught fire. The last time
was in 1995, when it was burned to the ground by former Ku Klux
Klan members. In 1996, President Bill Clinton attended the
dedication ceremony for the new church that was built in the
aftermath.

"My prayer is that we're not having a
repeat,"Rev. Nelson
Riverstold ABC
News 4. "But we're not going to take chances and we are
plotting where the churches have burned so far, reaching out to
the pastors and the congregations, and also talking to the
authorities in those areas to see what they think."

Mark Keel of the State Law Enforcement Division told the Post and
Courier that authorities have notified the ATF about the
situation.

He also said the fire could have been caused by lightning from a
storm that had just passed through the county, but an
investigation into the incident would not be able to commence
until after the flames had been doused.

Asked about the possibility of it being related to other recent
fires at black churches, he said, “Certainly, I think we all
are concerned about those things.”

Mt. Zion AME is now the seventh church to catch fire since 21-year-old
Dylann Roof shot and killed nine people in Charleston, South
Carolina’s Emanuel AME Church. State and federal officials are
looking into the blazes, some of which may be classified as hate
crimes.